Erdős Problem 931 #
Reference: erdosproblems.com/931
Let $k_1 \geq k_2 \geq 3$. Are there only finitely many $n_2\geq n_1 + k_1$ such that $$ \prod_{1\leq i\leq k_1}(n_1 + i)\ \text{and}\ \prod_{1\leq j\leq k_2} (n_2 + j) $$ have the same prime factors?
Erdős thought perhaps if the two products have the same factors then $n_2 > 2(n_1 + k_1)$. It is an open question whether this is true when allowing a finite number of counterexamples.
In fact there exist counterexamples, like this one found by AlphaProof.
theorem
erdos_931.variants.exists_prime
(k₁ k₂ n₁ n₂ : ℕ)
(h₁ : k₂ ≤ k₁)
(h₂ : 3 ≤ k₂)
(h₃ : n₁ + k₁ ≤ n₂)
(h₄ : (∏ i ∈ Finset.Icc 1 k₁, (n₁ + i)).primeFactors = (∏ j ∈ Finset.Icc 1 k₂, (n₂ + j)).primeFactors)
:
Erdős was unable to prove that if the two products have the same factors then there must exist a prime between $n_1$ and $n_2$.